Wednesday, October 18, 2006

Chaos On Horizon For TV Ratings

Why? Because Nielsen is going to start measuring how many people actually watch the commercials. They've backed off initial plans and will provide the data free for one year and label it experimental because everyone freaked out. But once those numbers come out, it's going to cause havoc. People with DVRs now constitute 14% of homes and that number is growing rapidly. Networks insist that only about 5% of them skip through commercials on shows they've taped. (Another network sponsored study insists that in a similar amount of homes, viewership INCREASES during commercials. That's right: we all go do our dishes and laundry and other errands while "CSI" is on and then rush to the TV to watch the commercials.) Personally, since getting the DVR I almost NEVER watch commercials; the lone exception being shows I watch live like "American Idol" and sports. My prediction is that the value of sports programming is going to remain sky high and that ESPN will look like the best buy on TV. If you have a DVR, why would you ever watch commercials?